Summer Nights
by Lizzy Weasley
Summary: Lily takes part in a magical exchange to get away from James Potter. So, what will James do to be near her? R&R please.
1. The advert

_A new story, great:-)_

_I wrote this one as if it happened before my other story "Fire", so don't be surprised if you recognize the names of Lily's friends. I plan to create a trilogy of stories with this one as the first, then another one (probably also Lily/James) and "Fire" as the last story. Well, I don't know yet. _

_Disclaimer: I have bought the rights yesterday, so everything is MINE! No, not really..._

_So, here's the first chapter of "Summer Nights":_

"Magixchange? That sounds tempting!" said the girl with the remarkable green eyes, looking at a little advert, which was pinned to the magical notice board in the Gryffindor Common Room (little coloured letters were sliding over the board, forming adverts and messages for the students).

Her friend Nadine Meyer had interrupted her while she had been learning some minutes before.

Lily Evans had reacted a bit irritably to this disturbance ("Can't you see that I am revising our DADA subjects?"), but Nadine had not felt insulted or offended because almost every student became angry very fast at the moment. The reasons for this entire bad mood were the forthcoming OWLs.

It was the weekend before they would take their exams and – naturally – everybody (except the lazy students and last-minute-learners) tried to revise their stuff in their free time.

But Nadine couldn't really understand why Lily was that tense. No matter what challenge her beautiful friend had to pass, she did it excellently.

Lily always got an "outstanding" and she was a teachers' darling, just like James Potter, but he wasn't quite as popular with the teachers as Lily (well, would your teachers appreciate it very much if you tried to blow up the toilet?).

But right after her break-out, Lily had apologized to her blonde friend Nadine because she was a really peace-loving person.

Then she had followed Nadine to the notice board together with her other friends, Elena Fuego and Jennifer Hardy.

Actually, Lily was glad to get a diversion from her school books and from DADA. She was very good at school, but that didn't change the fact that she hated the stress and pressure before their exams.

The three girls read the little advert, Nadine was pointing at:

_Your friends are looking forward to great adventures and much fun in your summer holidays, but not you? You have to stay at home and feel bored?_

_Then take part in Magixchange – the magical exchange programme!_

_Exchange for 2 months of your holidays combined with holiday work; _

_Just pick one of the countries on the following list and we will find a host family for you. _

…

_To apply for the exchange, send your owls to…_

Below the list with the countries, they could see the address of IME (Institute for Magical Exchanges).

After reading this advert, Lily was really like fire and flame – she was totally thrilled.

Elena and Jennifer weren't very enthusiastic about Magixchange because they already had a plan for their summer holidays: Elena and her family would visit their relatives in Spain, Jennifer and her older sister Elsa would go on a backpack-trip through Europe.

That's why the two girls went back to their repetitions, but without Lily and Nadine.

"Accio piece of paper and pen" Lily muttered under her breath in order to keep the silence of the room and after some seconds, the called things flew into her outstretched hand. She wrote down the address of IME on the piece of paper.

Nadine was also very interested in Magixchange and so, she suggested to apply immediately and also write letters to their parents to ask for permission, but as the exchange was quite cheap, safe and combined with holiday work their parents would probably agree with everything.

Lily and her friend sat down on their chairs next to the fire again and wrote letters to their families at first and then, they had to choose one country from the list. As they both had always dreamed of one certain country, the destination was quickly found: Australia.

Having also written the application for the programme, the two students turned back to their books, but a bit less tense than before.

Especially the redhead felt very happy because this journey was her opportunity of getting rid of James Potter for at least 2 months!

He had really managed to come to Lily's house last summer and tell her parents that he was her boyfriend.

Unlike their two daughters, the Evans had liked Potter very much because he could be a very good ass-kisser – bloody good!

But in spite of this, the girl with the smooth, dark-red hair had thrown him out of their house when he had started to talk about their wedding on his 3rd visit.

It was one thing to ask her for dates all the time, but he had really gone too far by coming to her house and lying to her family.

It had taken her much effort to tell her parents that their "charming young man" and "to-be son-in-law" was just a stupid liar and a show-off and they had really been very disappointed.

After that summer, Lily had ignored James as well as she could or insulted him whenever he asked her for a date. Her peaceable nature ended with the mention of his name or his presence.

Therefore, this Magixchange was just the right thing for the 15-year-old girl: 2 months without Potter – heavenly!

But you may know that everything turns out to be differently than you think it is…

_To be continued..._

_What do you think about this chapter? Please tell me, thanks!_


	2. The arrival

_2nd chapter of this story, I hope you'll like it!_

_Disclaimer: I own some characters and this story, everything else belongs to J.K.Rowling!_

_Today's my birthday (I'm finally 19)! Yay, it's party-time!_

_Thanks for you reviews:_

_Adjistaf: Thankyou. _

_Lizzi, Elizabeth__: Thanks for the compliment and I hope you are pleased with this longer chapter. _

_PinkDiamond05__: I totally agree with you: Sirius and Remus have to be in the story, so... (I hope you all can forgive me that I left Peter away, but I thought that if not all of Lily's friends would go there, then not all of James's friends should be there either)_

_TheBrassPotato__: Thank you, too. _

_sugur-huny-bun__: I hope I updated soon enough:-)_

_ShOrTnSwEeT9013__: Thank you and was the update soon enough?_

_check6: Thanks for the review and the new chapter is longer now ;-)_

_Danielle: Also thanks to you :-)_

_And here's the next chapter:_

Lily Evans could not believe it, they had made it, they had written their tests and the summer holidays had started.

She was glad that the tests were over and she was sure that she had done well, even though she always told the opposite when others were around, making her classmates and her family roll their eyes. They all knew that she had passed every exam with top grades because she always did.

But Lily had some more weeks till she could find out whether her feelings and the others were right or not.

And she would use this time wisely to relax and recover form the huge stress at school.

The first month of their summer holidays, however, had only passed slowly and had been very unexciting.

The most spectacular event in these 30 days of June had been another visit of Potter. He had come back to her house at the 10th day of their holidays and had thought that he could make Lily finally go out with him this year. But the expected warm welcome of the girl's parents had been omitted, as they had not forgotten that Potter had lied to them the year before. The 16-year-old had been really shocked when he had realized that the Evans wouldn't be on his side any longer and so, he had left (not without about 100 apologies) very sadly.

The rest of June had been very boring as Lily's friends Elena and Jennifer had not been at home and she had also not been able to see Nadine. Her friend had had house arrest because of partying too long on and too wildly on the first day of their holidays.

Thus, the beautiful redhead had had no other chance as to spend almost every single day with her family.

Of course, she loved them all very much (her sister Petunia was the exception because she really loathed Lily for being a witch and Lily could do what she wanted – she couldn't change their relationship), but she definitely needed time for herself after the last months full of revising and learning for their OWLs.

That's why she felt relieved when June was finally over and her journey was about to begin.

Lily was standing in an old and empty storehouse somewhere in London together with some other students

Her friend Nadine was just telling her about her also very boring June (well, house arrest is always boring), when an older wizard and witch entered the storehouse and came towards the youths.

They both wore shorts and the witch a white tank top and the wizards a Hawaii shirt. They were about 30 and their names were Nicole Sumersby and Colin Haliday.

They were the wardens of the exchange students and Nicole also declared that they were the contact if there would be any problems. Colin told the students where they could find them in Australia ("Willy's Whizzing Wotel") and then, checked if everybody was there.

After the formalities, all they could do was to wait for the group of Australian exchange students because they would use their Portkey.

Lily and Nadine were looking forward to seeing the Mauve twins, their exchange partners. They were really lucky because they were able to live in the same house because of the fact that their partners were twins.

Then, at exactly 9 o'clock, the Australians and their wardens appeared in the middle of the storehouse, all touching a very battered looking tennis racket, which one of the two wardens of the Australians lay carefully down on the floor.

The wardens and the exchange partners said a quick "hi" to each other (the Mauve twins – Holly and Kate – were beautiful brunettes and seemed to be very friendly) and then the Australians moved towards their exchange parents, who were standing near the entrance of the storehouse, waiting for their guest.

Meanwhile, the English wardens made sure that everybody knew how to travel with a Portkey and then, Lily and the other students grabbed their luggage with one hand, waved at their parents for one last time (they had already said goodbye before the wardens had arrived) and then touched the tennis rocket, after the Nicole's counting to three.

Lily already knew the feeling: her feet left the ground and she was suddenly pulled forwards, wind was howling past her, which showed that they were moving were fast, magically glued to the Portkey.

Only some seconds later, the youths suddenly hit the ground. They had left the cold English storehouse and found themselves in a similar, but far warmer one.

The wardens greeted the exchange parents and then fetched their list with the names of the students and the names of the family, they would live with.

When Colin called up the Mauves, a very strange couple moved towards the two girls: the man was stocky, thick around the middle and almost bald, while the woman was a real beauty with deep-blue eyes, curly, blonde-red hair and the body of a supermodel.

They couldn't have been more different, in fact, Lily wondered how they had found together. The red-haired girl suppressed a laugh because she knew that if was very stupid of her to judge other people by looking at their outer appearance. Important was the inside, their character and they seemed to be very nice people. They hugged Lily and Nadine as a salutation and told them to call them "Hal" and "Trish".

This made the two friends feel even happier because they seemed to be very lucky with this family.

Before the students were allowed to leave with their exchange parents, the two wardens told them one last time, where they could be found and wished them nice two months in Australia. They also gave out two pieces of paper with important addresses and all the facts about their departure.

The girls had thought that they were lucky because of their exchange parents, but that was nothing compared to the house of the Mauves: it was huge, bright, with its own swimming pool and tennis court. The room of the twins was also very beautiful and Lily and Nadine felt immediately that they would have a nice time in this house.

What was even more important to the friends was that the beach was directly behind the house, which meant that they could go for a swim whenever they wanted to.

As the exchange students all had some days to accustom themselves, Hal and Trish suggested showing the girls the surrounding area a bit and telling them everything that was important. They showed them the most important clubs and shopping centres in town, parks, restaurants and the little café at the beach, the twins worked in. It couldn't be better for the girls: they would work in a café at the beach, the sea no 100 metres away from it! They also met their chef, a handsome and very outgoing 19-year-old guy named Daniel. He told them that they had to work 5 days a week, till midday, their afternoons were free.

Having seen the most important places in Sydney, they drove back to the Mauves' house and Hal suggested going for a swim in the sea.

Lily put on her black bikini and over it a short white skirt and a dark-blue neck holder top, her hair pinned up. She looked at her reflection in the mirror in the twins' room, waiting for Nadine to get ready.

It was really time that she went into the sun because her skin had almost the same colour as her white skirt.

When everybody was ready, they all walked down to the beach and went for a swim in the sea to cool down a bit at once (it was really hot).

After some time, Hal and Trish explained that they would leave the girls alone and go back to their house as they still had some work to do – Hal was the manager of a group of car factories and Trish ran a very popular boutique in the shopping area of Sydney.

Before they left, they made clear that it was ok if the girls went to parties or into clubs at night, but that they should not exaggerate it because they didn't appreciate it very much if Lily and Nadine got drunk or wouldn't come home at all.

Then, they left the girls alone, frizzling in the hot July-sun. Lily was lying flat on her back and closed her eyes, enjoying the wonderful day.

Lily felt like she was in paradise: the weather was great, as was their exchange family and their house. She thought that they would have a wonderful time in Australia.

But suddenly, somebody spread icy water over the girls' already dry bodies and they had to scream because it was that cold. They sat up at once, looking for the guilty person.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Evans and Meyer! I didn't see you there!"

Lily was shocked. She knew this voice and hated it.

The young witch got up from her towel and turned around to face the boy who was the last person on earth she wanted to see now in HER paradise.

"Potter? What are you doing her?"

The black-haired boy, wearing blue shorts, showed a wide smile and said: "Isn't that obvious? We are playing water ball."

Then he showed Lily a big yellow ball and pointed over to the sea, where his friends Remus Lupin and Sirius Black were waiting for James.

Lily was speechless. Why did they have to be here? And how? They had not been in the storehouse with her and the others.

"By the way, you look really nice in that bikini!" James grinned playfully, not able to take his eyes away from Lily.

The girl blushed. It was a nightmare – she didn't want Potter so see her in her bikini.

As she didn't know what to say, she grabbed her clothes and towel and told her friend Nadine that she would go back to the house because she felt sick. In reality, a huge volcano filled with rage was pounding in her veins, about to break out every second now.

Before Lily was gone, James shouted after her: "Well, see you around, Lil!"

Her day was spoiled.

_To be continued..._

_Please leave a little review for me makes puppy eyes _


	3. Strange Feelings

_New chappy, woo-hoo!_

_Disclaimer: I own this story and some characters, but nothing else. _

"Get your cutie booty out of this bed! We have to go to work, Lils." Nadine Meyer screamed in order to wake up her friend Lily Evans.

Of course, this was a very brutal way of waking somebody up, but a kinder method didn't work any longer as Lily didn't want to get up.

And the reason was – you all know it – James Potter.

James, his friends Sirius Black and Remus Lupin had received their holiday work at the post office near their homes and it was THE post office which brought all the letters and little packets to the café (_Daniel's_) Lily and Nadine worked at.

That's why the beautiful redhead had to see Potter and his friends almost every morning and here's how these meetings looked like:

James and the others would enter the café with many letters (principally bills) and the packets (they were able to use the bikes of their exchange partners for their job). The black-haired boy would spot Lily behind the bar, taking the glasses and dishes out of the dishwasher together with Nadine. He would walk right over to the girl of his dreams, smile his broadest smile at her and salute her with words like these: "Queen of my desperate life, would you give me the pleasure in going out with me?" Nadine and the others would roll their eyes and Lily would answer through gritted teeth: "Not even if you were the last guy on earth, Potter!" Then, James's spirits would sink, he would become very sad and not be able to say more than: "I need your signature here." (- and that very desperately). Lily would sign the bill of delivery and then ignore the boys, so they would leave and Nadine would be left with a fuming Lily.

"Well," Nadine thought "she can spoil her own holidays, but she won't spoil mine."

The picture of a tall, brown-haired hottie came back to her mind. THE tall, brown-haired hottie who used to come to _Daniel's_ every morning to flirt with her for about an hour and then vanish suddenly, without a word. She didn't even know his name. The pretty blonde girl allowed this picture to warm her from inside and conjure a smile on her face for some moments.

Then she jumped onto the bed of her friend and shook her.

Lily moaned, but had to giggle at the same time because Nadine had also started tickling her.

Lily stammered between her laughter: "O-ok, I surr-rrender and wi-ill get u-up!"

The other girl, with the light-green eyes, was content with herself and got up from her friend's bed.

Then she fetched her clothes and make-up (she wanted to look good for her hottie) and went to one of the two bathrooms on the second floor of this huge house.

The red-haired girl stretched her arms and legs and yawned. She hadn't slept very well throughout the whole week, even though she had not gone out at night, but locked herself into the library of the Mauves.

Hal, Trish and Nadine were very worried because of this behaviour – Hal and Trish had rather expected to get party girls as exchange students instead of a stay-at-home.

But Lily told them that she was a bookworm and could not bear a day without reading a book before going to bed.

"But darling, you surely didn't come to Australia just to read all the time? You can also do that when you're back home." Trish said when they were finally having breakfast on this already sunny Monday (it was only 6.30 in the morning, but the sunrise promised a wonderful day).

She looked down at Lily's white skin under her mini-skirt and added: "You'll never get tanned if you go on like that!"

Hal agreed: "You have to enjoy this excellent weather we have here."

Nadine nodded and they all looked expectantly at the pretty girl, but she only answered: "I wondered about that many times."

When she noticed the puzzled looks of the others, she explained: "I thought that, here in Australia, it would be winter when there's summer in England."

Nadine blinked. She could not believe that her friend had simply changed the topic and that Hal and Trish didn't realized that because Hal grinned an whispered (as if anybody could overhear their conversation in this huge house, which was protected by the best electric alarm system on the market): "Yeah, you're right, Lil. Yes, actually it would be winter now and I suppose that you two would freeze very much with your summer clothes then, but one wizard has caused great trouble here in Australia with one of his invented spells. At first, he produced a huge snow storm and it became very cold. We could even build a snowman." Hal chuckled. "Your wardens have told us what had exactly happened, namely that this guy then wanted to melt the snow in his garden, but caused a snowmelt in the whole country!"

Trish found this affair also very funny: "Yeah, it was great: we were outdoors, trying to free our gateway from all this snow, in our warm clothes, of course, and suddenly the snow is gone, everything is green again and we have to get rid of our boots, coats and pullovers and everything because it's that warm!"

Lily and Nadine giggled loudly, though the latter was a bit angry at her friend because of lying at the Mauves.

In their minds, they all thanked this wizard for their (in Hal's and Trish's case) the second or (in Lily's and Nadine's case) their first summer in Australia.

"But that's very conspicuous for the Mug- sorry, the non-magicians, isn't it?" the redhead asked.

Hal winked at the girls: "Well, your ministry made the news presenters tell the people that at first, an Antarctic cyclone and then, a tropical high pressure area or something like that has caused this change of temperatures. Yeah, well, we 'Muggles' believe that."

Lily had to laugh about that on their short way to _Daniel's_ (it was no hundred metres away from the Mauves' house), but Nadine was still angry.

She could not believe that Lily had lied because that wasn't like Lily at all.

It suddenly burst out of the blonde girl, when they were standing in front of the door of the café: "Why didn't you tell them the truth? Why did you have to lie? Hal and Trish are very kind and our friends. Friends don't lie to their friends!"

Lily stopped looking for the key in her bag and looked dumbstruck at the back of her friend, who already unlocked the door of _Daniel's_ (not Lily had the key, but Nadine). Daniel was not there, but that was not new to them because he would come at 12 o'clock and then work throughout the night together with his other two employees, and best friends, Michael and Alex.

The two girls entered the café in silence and after some moments, Lily had to admit that Nadine was right and answered: "I know now that it was stupid, but I find this whole thing with Potter very embarrassing and I thought that Hal and Trish would laugh at me."

She looked at the floor.

Nadine shook her head: "Why should they? I think that they would listen to you and understand you."

Lily nodded and raised her head to look at her friend: "I think that you're right. I will tell them the truth and apologize!" Suddenly, her voice became very desperate. "But at first, I have to survive this day!"

Nadine wondered what this last comment could mean, but then she realized that Lily wasn't looking at her any longer, but somewhere else. She followed this look and immediately recognized the reason for the sudden change of her friend's behaviour: Sirius, James and Remus were standing in front of the now again locked door of _Daniel's_, but not in their uniforms. They wore T-shirts and shorts. They seemed to be waiting for the café to open.

"Oh no, what can they want here?" Lily shook her head, with an expression on her face that wanted to say: Do I really deserve this?

But Nadine, who already knew this behaviour and wouldn't be able to bear it much longer, only said: "Ask them."

She smiled and turned around to open the door, which the two girls had closed behind them when they had entered. They always did that because they first had to clean the tables and take the dishes out of the dishwasher and then, put up the outside tables, etc. before they could open the café.

Lily moaned and went behind the bar. The boys had already entered the café, so she couldn't really do anything against that.

The guys sat down on some chairs at the bar and watched the two girls.

"Why aren't you at the post office and delivering mail?" Nadine finally asked, while cleaning the tables and chairs.

"The office is on strike today, so we have a day off." Sirius and the others grinned, but Nadine realized that James was unusually silent. He hadn't saluted Lily with one of these stupid love declarations. He actually had said nothing so far.

Lily looked over at Nadine and her eyes showed that she, too, was very surprised about that.

"Well, guys, you are only in our way now, so you could at least be a bit useful if you really HAVE to be here now." Nadine grinned at them. "Maybe you could put up the tables outside?"

She fluttered her eyelashes and smiled charmingly, so the three young men had not other choice.

"After this very nice and charming request-" Remus got up from his chair and the others followed him outside.

When they all had finished their tasks, they only had to wait for the first guests and they came very gradually.

As a "thank you" for their help, the girls said that the three boys didn't have to pay for their drinks, which was – as you can imagine – really abused because they ordered one drink after the other.

Everybody seemed to be happy, except the redhead because Potter and his friends didn't want to leave, so she tried to ignore James again.

"How can you ignore somebody who is 6 feet tall, with these deep, hazel eyes, this messy black hair and a grin that could melt ice?" Lily wondered and wanted to hit herself at the same time because of these thoughts.

It was one of those days when the pretty girl didn't feel antipathy towards James Potter. He didn't act as like a show-off that day, didn't get on her nerves, didn't chat her up, but she would never admit this fact, not even to herself.

To forget all these strange feelings, she talked to Daniel, when this surfer guy-hottie came – one hour earlier than usually –and realized that James was not really pleased to see that at all.

"Good." Lily thought. "Maybe he will finally realize that we will never become a couple."

But somehow the "never" made the girl's stomach ache. Did she really want that Potter forgot her?

She really started to worry. She thought that she was ill and crazy because she couldn't decide if she wanted to get rid of Potter or not.

A group of about 10 girls interrupted her thoughts and brought her back to reality, to the sweetie Daniel in front of her.

She liked him. She really liked this guy, but was there more? And why couldn't she stop thinking about Potter?

Totally confused, Lily noticed that some of the loudly-chattering girls had sat down on some chairs next to James, Remus and Sirius and one of them – a dark-haired Barbie – was talking animatedly to Potter, touching his arm and flirting with him.

She felt a stitch in her heart, when she saw this, and she wished that it would just go away.

_To be continued..._

_How do you like this chapter? Please review. Thank you. _

_Third chapter and here are my thank-yous: _

_gooberxo15_: _thanks for loving my story, I hope the update is soon enough? (sorry, if now, but I've go a holiday work now and can't update so often)_

_Ocean-Poweress__: thanks for your wishes (it was a great birthday :-) ) and also thanks for loving it._

_check6: sorry, I am really no expert with the 60s and so on and it would only help with music or clothes, but not more, but I hope that it's still ok for you?_

_Sir Gawain of Camelot: cool name, yeah, it was a shock lol_

_sugur-huny-bun__: what a sweet name you have :-), thanks for your review._

_TheBrassPotato__: a bit more interaction this time, or at least I hope so. Better sides? What do you say now:-)_

_silverwisps__: oh, yes, he's cute, but I am still a bit cruel to him hehehe. Thanks for your support._

_L__izzi, Elizabeth__: couldn't stand your puppy eyes lol how do you like the length of this chappy?_


	4. Her special day

_I'm sorry for not updating so long, but here it is: the forth chapter._

_Disclaimer: Same as always. _

July passed quickly, almost like lightning and Lily gradually got used to James's presence while she worked at Daniel's.

She had also worked out how James had heard about her plan for the holidays: she had remembered that Sirius had stood next to Elena while they had read the advert in the Gryffindor Common Room. And now she found herself very stupid: of course, Magixchange used more than one storehouse for these exchanges or it would really be too obvious if so many pupils would appear in one place.

Some weeks earlier, she would have killed Potter, Lupin and Black because of that, but not now because it was really ok for her.

But she still didn't go out, just locked herself up in her free time.

Well, she had told Hal and Trish her true reason for behaving like that – James, of course – and they really understood her and tried to encourage her to ignore him. But that was the problem: she didn't want to ignore him as they really got along with each other now. That's why nobody understood why Lily still acted in this strange way.

There was another reason this time and Lily didn't even tell Nadine about it as she felt very embarrassed: she hated herself for starting to like Potter!

She thought about him in a new way now and silently admired his appearance ("How can he always look that good?"). She had stopped to dread his visits (his post office was on strike almost every second day now because of bad payment or something and as he and his friends were no "real" workers, but had only holiday jobs, they did not have to take part in the strikes and they also did not have to work), but rather enjoyed them now, having brief talks about nonsensical topics, just like the weather or food.

So, everything could be all right, couldn't it?

But it didn't feel right to Lily, she felt as if she wasn't herself any more.

How could she like Potter? He was arrogant, mean and a show-off, wasn't he?

These thoughts were the reason for Lily's hiding in the Mauves' library.

Then, she also hated herself for behaving like that, which made her very confused and sad.

She didn't tell the others about her feelings, as she thought that they would certainly assume that she was in love with Potter.

But she really wasn't. That was just not true, was it?

More days passed and suddenly it was her 16th birthday.

It was a sunny 9th August and when she woke up and remained in bed for a couple of minutes, she swore herself that she would change her behaviour. Nadine also had to suffer from it as she didn't want to go out without Lily.

And Lily really wanted to enjoy at least the rest of her holidays.

She got up and found the bed of her friend already empty, so she thought that Nadine had gone downstairs to have breakfast with Hal and Trish.

Lily put on a T-shirt over the top of her pyjamas and pinned up her red hair. Then she went downstairs and into the kitchen where she found the others sitting around the round table, on which stood a huge tart with many candles. They all showed Lily their broadest smiles.

"Happy birthday, Lily!" they all screamed when they saw the redhead.

The girl was really touched and blew out the candles at once, whishing for herself and the others that she would really make her resolutions come true.

Her birthday was the perfect day for this change of behaviour, as she and Nadine didn't have to work at all that day. Daniel had told her to see this free day as his birthday present for her.

"So, don't expect anything else from me. I am just a poor bartender and have no money at all. That's why I can't buy you anything!" Daniel had tried to stay serious while saying this, but his blue eyes had laughed at Lily.

She had to admit that she felt physically attracted to her boss. Daniel was about one head taller than she was, had brown, short hair, which he always messed up with much styling gel. His blue eyes were a dream, they had the same colour as the blue sky above them. And furthermore, he was a really nice guy. Lily talked to him like to her best friend, even though she didn't really know him.

Every conversation with him made her feelings for him more intense and Nadine always told her that she was flirting with him and that everybody knew it.

"Oh, come on, you like him and he likes you, that's no secret. You should go out with him."

Lily started to shake her head. There was no sense in doing so as she would leave Australia in some weeks and then, she would never see Daniel again.

So, if she started to date him now, her heart would break when she would have to leave him, she knew it.

Additionally, her feelings for Daniel complicated everything much more because she liked Potter and she liked Daniel and that was too confusing for her.

That's why she intended to relax on her birthday, enjoy her free day, have as much fun as possible and not think about the two guys.

Trish took the girls with her to the shopping centre of Sydney, as she had to work, and Lily and Nadine went shopping for almost the whole morning. They bought skirts and T-shirts, shorts and tops, shoes and books, etc.

Afterwards, they enjoyed an ice-cream in a very friendly-looking café and took the bus back to the Mauves' house when they were tired of shopping.

Hal was at home and had to deal with many important things as it seemed.

"Oh girls, what are you doing here now? I have to phone important people today and need silence, so please could you leave the house for some more hours?"

His dark eyes showed them that he really meant it and so they did what he had asked them to do.

"Sure Hal. We will go down to the beach as long as you have to work." Nadine answered.

The stocky man (he wasn't even as tall as Lily and Nadine) took the girls into his arms and laughed: "Thanks, sweethearts. You are great!"

So, the two friends put on their bikinis (Lily's skin didn't look white any more, she had gotten a nice suntan in the past few weeks because of her job at Daniel's, but she could not match Nadine, who had spent more time outdoors than the redhead.

They went down to the beach and went for a swim at first.

Afterwards, they lay down on their towels and closed their eyes to frizzle in the hot sun.

Suddenly, a shadow took away their sun and a deep, enjoyable voice said: "Ah that is what you do when you don't work."

The girls opened their eyes to find Nadine's brown-haired hottie. He sat down on the sand next to the blonde girl and grinned at her. Lily saw that he had a dimple in the left corner of his mouth. He wore only bathing shorts and now, she understood why Nadine found him that charming as the girls could admire his strong and trained arms and his muscular stomach.

"Is that forbidden?" Nadine asked playfully and grinned back.

"No, not forbidden, but I missed you today. This morning, I came to _Daniel's_ as always, ready to finally ask you for a date, and you were not there."

Nadine blushed slightly.

"Well, I've got a free day because it's my friend Lily's 16th birthday today." She pointed at Lily and the guy congratulated the redhead and then, gave his full attention back to Nadine.

Lily could see that Nadine was very excited and was hardly able to suppress a huge smile because she felt that happy.

"Who says that I will go out with you?" the blonde girl asked sweetly and his face darkened immediately, but she added: "I don't even know your name."

The grin was back on his face. "That can be changed!" He held out his hand and said: "Hi, my name is Kyle Burnes, my zodiac sign is Sagittarius, I am 17 years old, I come from Cornwall and I would love to have a date with you."

Nadine had to giggle wildly after this little speech and answered: "Hello Kyle from Cornwall, my name is Nadine Meyer and I would also love to have a date with you."

Kyle kissed her hand and asked Nadine to play a bit water ball with him.

"Are you coming, too?" Nadine asked Lily, but Lily said no as she knew that she would be in the way.

She felt very happy for her friend and hoped that at least Nadine would fall in love this summer.

Then, Lily lay down again, her eyes closed, but it was not meant for her to stay alone for a long time, as another shadow appeared above her and took away the sun.

She opened her eyes and sat up when she saw that the shadow sat down next to her.

"Hey Lily, happy birthday to you." James smiled at her and she thanked him.

"What have you done today?"

Then she told him about their shopping-trip and about the beach.

Afterwards, he became a bit nervous and she realized that he was hiding something behind his back.

He looked into her remarkably green eyes and gulped loudly: "I have something for you, a present."

"Oh, that is not necessary, James! You really don't have to give me something."

Her knees began to tremble slightly and feelings that she had wanted to suppress were rumouring in her stomach, so she hugged her knees, hoping that James would not notice anything.

He looked very good again in his bathing shorts. She could see that he used to train his body, as his arms and stomach were muscular.

"It's your birthday, Lily, and therefore, you get presents!" and he finally gave her a little packet, which he had hidden behind his back.

It was wrapped into very beautiful wrapping paper and around it was a nice ribbon.

Lily took it gladly and unwrapped the present.

When she saw what was inside, she almost threw her arms around the boy next to her and kissed him. It was the latest CD of her favourite band, which she could not get anywhere as it was "sold out" everywhere.

"How…?" she could not find the right words. "Thanks." She breathed instead and hugged James briefly.

Then, they just smiled at each other, sparks all around them.

When Lily finally found her voice again, she had to ask one urgent question: "How do you know that the _Crying Whizzes_ are my favourite band?"

The black-haired boy didn't look at her when he answered, but took her right hand into his left hand: "Don't you know that, Lily? I am not the stupid guy that you think I am, or at least not always."

They both laughed at that.

"I have watched you very often and listened to what you have said and that's why I know you very well, even though you may not believe me."

He looked at her again and their eyes met and somehow, she believed him.

They were sitting on the beach like that for about an hour, starting to talk vividly after some minutes of just looking at each other. They found out that they were not as different as Lily had always thought they were and that they had many things in common, like their favourite band – the _Crying Whizzes_.

Then, Nadine came back with Kyle and asked Lily if she wanted to go back to the house to have dinner. She suggested taking the boys with them. But at first, she wanted to visit _Daniel's_ as she said that she had forgotten her bracelet there.

The redhead agreed and they headed towards the café.

Lily entered _Daniel's_ before the others and suddenly, a surge of great noise was coming towards her: "Happy birthday!"

A huge crowd of people was standing in the little café with party hats on their heads and huge smiles on their faces.

They almost carried Lily to the middle of the room, which had been prepared for a huge party. There was tasty food, there were drinks and everything was decorated with light strings and lampions and a band.

Everybody drank for Lily's health and then, they gave their presents to her – there were also the presents from her family and from her friends Elena and Jennifer.

Lily felt very happy and could not stop laughing.

Afterwards, the band began to play and the people in the room began to dance.

Daniel asked her to dance with him and one song became five and still, they did not stop dancing.

"Happy birthday, beauty." Daniel whispered into Lily's ear and she laughed loudly.

But when she saw the hurt expression on James's face, who was watching them, her smile vanished.

_To be continued..._

_Lizzi, Elizabeth: "But this won't be one of those stories where Lily's friends also hook up with the Marauders, right?"- No, it won't be a story like that, or it isn't as Nadine is in love with "Kyle". :-) "And the length of this chapter seems about medium, which is good. Good job. Now, you can update even faster with an even longer chapter, because you already know how to write a longer chapter and still update fast." - I would love to update faster and write more, but if I write more, then it will take longer as school started on Tuesday and I won't have that much time this year because it is my last year :-( , so I hope that the length of this chapter is ok for you! _

_sugar-huny-bun: Here's more :-)_

_silverwisps: Nadine is in love with Kyle and Lily likes Daniel, who is the surfer-guy. I hope that it becomes clear in this chapter! _

_Thanks for your reviews and I am really looking forward to more. :-)_


	5. Date No 1

_Hello everybody. Sorry for not updating in such a long time, but as school has started again, there's not much time for anything else. So, please don't be angry with me because I have not forgotten you. _

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and the song "You're beautiful" by James Blunt, but I had to use it in this chapter as it is my favourite song at the moment. :-)_

_So, without further ado, the fifth chapter: _

_Everywhere around them were couples, all dancing slowly, tightly. _

_The band was playing one slow song after the other and the next one was "You're beautiful". _

_It was her favourite song at the moment, wonderful and so sad. _

_Her arms lay around his neck, her head rested against his strong shoulder. She felt his hands on her hips. _

_They were swaying gently with the rhythm of the song. _

_She heard his deep voice whisper into her ear: _

"_I love you, Lily."_

_She lifted her head and looked directly into Daniel's blue eyes. _

_A smile spread on her face, making her remarkably green eyes shine even more than usually._

_His blue eyes smiled back at her, but no – they were not blue, but brown!_

_She had to blink and nearly fainted: not Daniel was there in front of her, but James!_

_How was that possible?_

_She felt very dizzy and had to close her eyes for some seconds. When she opened them again, suddenly both boys were standing in front of her with a red rose in their hands. _

_Now, nobody was smiling at her. The boys were looking very angry indeed. _

_When they began to speak simultaneously, a thunder storm broke out around the three (all the other couples had vanished): "We love you, Lily! But you can't have us both! You have to make a decision!"_

_They were shouting at her._

"_You have to make a decision! A decision, decision, decision, …"_

_Then there was only lightning and – _

_Her alarm clock. _

Lily groaned. What a stupid nightmare!

She would really not have to make a decision as she was not interested in a relationship with the two guys, was she?

She groaned again – all these feelings, thoughts and dreams would make her head explode soon.

Then she threw her pillow onto the alarm clock to stop it and got up.

The last three days had been awesome: at first, her birthday and the next two days full of beach parties. The redhead really had started to realize her resolutions: she didn't want to sit in the Mauves' library any longer, but enjoy the rest of her holidays like all the other exchange students and teenagers of her age, like Nadine, who was now Kyle's girlfriend.

Everything was great, right?

But why didn't the two guys – Daniel and James, of course – want to leave her side?

They were always with her: Daniel at the café and James on the beach.

She really had a good time with both of them, but whenever the two guys would meet, they would scowl at each other with grinding teeth as if they were rivals or something.

And to make it all worse, Lily felt a bubbling in her stomach for James and for Daniel and when she was in her bed, she always had to think about them.

The 16-year-old girl tried to ignore it, which wasn't quite easy as the boys were excellent flirters.

Nadine had told her that Daniel's AND James's behaviour was a clear sign that they had a crush on her.

"Everybody knows that. Even Trish and Hal have guessed it when they've seen you three at the party."

Yeah, the party. It had been wonderful and Lily had danced with Daniel throughout the night, but whenever she had looked at James, who had observed her very carefully, she had felt treacherous. The black-haired boy had left the party very early, also leaving a very guilty feeling Lily.

But why had she felt guilty?

Nothing had happened with Daniel or with James. So far…

Ooo

Her day at work was very boring. Writing down orders, preparing the orders and serving drinks. It also didn't help that she had to watch Nadine and Kyle all the time. In fact, they were going on her nerves. Kiss here, kiss there, giggling and nicknames. The redhead felt happy for her friend, but this was too much for her.

She was really glad when their shift was over.

Deep inside, she knew that she was just jealous because Nadine had found her "Mister Right" and she hadn't.

Lily and her blonde friend fetched their bikinis and towels and went down to the beach where Kyle was already waiting for Nadine.

James and the others were also there and so, Lily laid her towel next to James's, as far away from Nadine and Kyle as possible.

"Hey, you ok? You look so sad."

James was looking at her very intently. How could he always sense her feelings so well? Lily didn't understand that. She had always thought that he was much too busy with himself to pay attention to other people and now, he showed her the complete opposite.

"Sure, everything ok." Not very convincing and she knew it, so she added: "Romeo and Juliet over there are just a bit too much for me."

Her hands got slightly wet. James was so near, their shoulders almost touched.

"You two wanna play a bit water ball with us?" Sirius asked Lily and James and Lily nodded as she needed a distraction from all her confusing feelings and thoughts.

Their game was really funny and exactly what Lily needed now. Lily and Remus were playing against Sirius and James and as she always distracted James's attention from the ball with one of her sweet smiles her team won.

After a while, James asked Lily if she wanted to go for a walk and she agreed.

They were walking through the warm sand, talking vividly about their families and many other things.

Suddenly, James stopped the girl and looked directly into her green eyes: "What are you planning to do tonight?"

"Nothing so far." She wondered why James made all this fuss as they would see each other anyway, like every night.

"Would you like to watch this new movie with Nicole Kidman with me?"

Lily was about to laugh when she saw the serious expression on his face. He looked as if somebody had died.

"You mean 'Bewitched'?"

James nodded.

"Sure. Who else will come with us?"

Uh-uh, that had obviously been the wrong question. James looked very nervous now, observing the ground very intrigued.

"Ahem, Lily, I, we, I…" He had to clear his throat and rearrange the glasses on his nose before he could go on.

His ears were slightly pink, which made the girl smile.

"Lily, I thought that this could be a date tonight."

Now, he was looking back into her eyes, searching for reassurance and now it was Lily's turn to become nervous.

Nothing had happened so far and she really had been glad about that, but with this date many things could change.

"_You have to make a decision!"_

The words from her dream were ringing in her ears. If she agreed and went out with James, what would Daniel do?

She didn't want to make a decision, but she knew that she would have to soon and especially now that James wanted a date with her.

"S-sure. That would be great." But there was no excitement in her voice, only fear.

James – in his great joy for getting a yes – didn't notice anything.

"Ok, I'll pick you up at 7 o'clock."

Then, they walked back to the others in silence. The one too occupied with his joy, the other too enclosed in her fear.

Ooo

"Nadine, I need your help." Lily had muttered when she and James were back from their walk.

Then, the two girls had left the beach at about 5 o'clock and Lily had told Nadine everything about this date, about her feelings for James AND Daniel, about her fear.

"Don't be that afraid, Lils! I think that this date will be wonderful and I hope that you will be sure about your feelings afterwards."

About half an hour of calming words later, Lily was giving a fashion parade for her friend. Nadine didn't seem to be satisfied with one of her dresses.

Then it was too much for Nadine and so, she found something for Lily: a short, khaki skirt, a tight black top with thick straps and black stilettos.

Lily hadn't been quite convinced of this combination, but when she was looking at her reflection in the mirror after having taken a shower, she felt like kissing Nadine.

"You look awesome! If he doesn't faint when he sees you, he's not the right guy for you." Nadine declared enthusiastically.

And Lily had to agree: the clothes fitted her very well.

She wore her hair open because her friend had thought that it looked better like that and she was right again.

When the doorbell ringed at 7 o'clock, Lily didn't feel that nervous any more as her friend had made her feel very good. She was even looking forward to this date.

Hal opened the door with a very serious expression: "Mr Potter, you will bring her back at exactly 12 o'clock and no minute later, do you understand me?"

He was playing the strict dad very well, but his eyes betrayed him and finally, he smiled at the boy.

"Lily, darling, James is here." Trish seemed to be more excited than anybody else.

Nadine came down the stairs, announcing: "Here she comes."

Everybody held their breath when the beautiful redhead came down the stairs. James couldn't take his eyes off of her.

"You look really beautiful, Lily."

This made her blush slightly and then he produced one single red rose from behind his back and she smiled at him with her wonderful green eyes.

"You look very good, too." And that was right. He wore tight washed-out blue jeans and a tight black t-shirt.

Lily had to suppress the desire to hug him.

She gave her rose to Nadine, who took it with a twinkle.

James offered her his arm and then, they were gone – the date had officially started.

Ooo

The movie was really fantastic and they both had to laugh very much.

In the middle of the film, Lily suddenly felt James's hand grabbing for hers in the darkness and she looked over at him. This made him want to retract his hand, but she didn't let go of it.

Then she saw James smiling at her in the darkness and she smiled back.

After the film, they went to a sweet little café near the movie theatre and talked about the movie. They both liked it very much.

On their way back to the Mauves' house, James asked her if they could repeat this date and she agreed gladly. Everything was just wonderful and she felt like flying.

"It was a great evening, James. Thank you." She said when they were standing in front of the door of the Mauves' house.

"Yes, I also enjoyed this evening very much."

Lily expected James to go every second, but he simply stood there, looking down at her.

Suddenly, lightning hit her and she knew why he didn't want to leave: he wanted to kiss her.

A picture of Daniel was flying through her mind and she knew that she couldn't kiss James now, as long as she wasn't sure if he was the right guy for her or not.

She had to act quickly and she did: before James could do anything, she planted a small kiss onto his right cheek and wished him a "Good night."

This was very good move as the black-haired boy didn't seem to be upset at all. He just touched his right cheek with his hand, had a very dreamy expression on his face and also wished her a "Good night."

Then Lily went into the house, where Trish, Hal and Nadine were still waiting for her, eager to get to know the whole story at once.

With a happy smile on her face, she gladly told them everything.

This seems like the happy ending of this story, right? – No, you are so wrong…

_To be continued..._


End file.
